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livergirl63 Asked March 2015

How do I get Mom back to her room?

My Mom's in a care home and believes that she has 3 rooms on different floors. My mothers room is on the 2nd floor. She has an electric chair which enables her to go down in the lift to the ground floor garden to have a cigarette. She then wanders up and down the corridors looking for her room. When I tell her her room is on the 2nd floor she insists she has one on the ground floor and that the staff are moving her and all her posessions to confuse her.. How do I deal with this ?

sandwich42plus Mar 2015
My question is why is this your problem? Staff should be assisting her because they are there, you are not, and that's part of what you get in a place like that.

This kind of confusion may turn into wandering, which is dangerous. Then she does need to be on a locked unit, so nothing bad happens.

terryjack1 Mar 2015
Is there a flower, animal or picture she really enjoys? If so, make a color copy of it, place it in a plastic sheet protector and tape it outside of her bedroom door. She will see the picture when she 'drives' by, you can also put a picture of her or family there as well. This often works well for those who are confused.

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notrydoyoda Mar 2015
Does she need to be in a memory care unit?

endofrope Mar 2015
I'm not sure there is anything you can do to convince her, they get so stubborn that it is like arguing with the cat. I know it probably isn't the "correct" thing to do, but when mine gets unreasonable with thinking she is right when she is clearly wrong, I just tell her that she is wrong and what she is saying is just crazy and that if she doesn't want everyone to think she is crazy then she should just go up to her room and stop talking nonsense. I look at it this way, she won't remember anything I say, and I feel better for being able to say it. Has your mom been there long? Sometimes it just takes a long time for them to "know" something for it to finally sink in through all the layers of cray-cray. Since she is a smoker, and I am sure she has been told how bad that is for her, tell her that if she doesn't stop bothering the 1st floor people she won't be allowed to smoke. If she has enough of her mind to understand cause and effect, that might put the fear into her that learning where her room is, is something to really work on remembering if she wants to continue being allowed to go out to smoke. I am curious, does she have matches? a lighter? isn't that dangerous?

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